Center for Molecular Biophysics & Biophysical Chemistry

John Lenard
Professor of Physiology & Biophysics, UMDNJ
(732) 235-4783
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Tower, Room 549

An enveloped virus possesses a very small genome, which may code for as few as 4 or 5 viral proteins, and a lipid-containing membrane ("envelope") obtained by budding out from the plasma membrane of an infected host cell. The viral proteins are responsible for re-entry of the virus into a new host cell, replication of the viral genome, and organization and budding of the mature viral particle. We use a combination of biochemical, genetic and biophysical approaches to study each of these functions, and to relate them to the structure of the virus proteins. We are attempting to provide a molecular description of the action of each viral protein in the life cycle of the virus.

We are also attempting to characterize both fungal insulin and insulin receptors by protein purification and cDNA cloning. Although insulin is traditionally regarded as a "mammalian" substance regulating blood sugar levels, this hormone has been found in virtually every prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganism in which it has been sought, and in insects and other organisms as well. Using a strain of the fungus Neurospora crassa that is especially suitable for cell fractionation and biochemical analysis, we have documented insulin effects on growth, morphology and sugar metabolism in this organism, and have obtained evidence for a membrane-bound insulin receptor. The genetic advantages of microorganisms are expected to provide powerful experimental tools to help us to understand how the signals provided by hormone binding to receptors are transduced into metabolic responses. .